Coaches

Nothing has a greater influence on the quality of children's organized sports experience than the excellence of the coaching.

Club Warriors' coaching staff, under the direction of Head Coach Russ Franklin, is comprised of professionally trained, experienced and dedicated staff members. As member coaches in the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association, they have access to the most comprehensive training and certification program for youth coaches of any sport in Canada. Club Warriors' coaching staff provides the assurance that the time your children spend in swimming will be quality time.

Russ is a level 3 NCCP coach and has been coaching professionally since 1983.

Coaching History
In over 30 years of coaching, Russ has been the Head Coach of three well-established swim clubs. The Pointe-Claire Swim Club from 1990 through to 1999; The Beaconsfield Bluefins from 1999 to 2011 and the Region of Waterloo Swim Club from 2011 to 2014. Russ welcomes the challenge of helping bring Club Warriors to the forefront of competitive swimming.

Highlights
Russ has coached three swimmers to the Olympic games and is looking at developing the young talent from across the Waterloo Region to do the same. His technically-based coaching style is exactly what separates him from most coaches. He has a keen eye for talent and has shown the capacity to develop that talent to its fullest. His success as a coach is apparent in the multitude of National records his swimmers have broken and the number of National champions that have come out of his programs.

About Russ
Russ and his wife Margot live in Kitchener with their daughter Ren. His Son Rylee still works and lives in Montreal.

Ken FitzpatrickAssistant Head Coach | Intro Head Coach | Age Group 3 and 4 Coach

Ken is a Level 3 ASCA (American Swim Coaches Association) and Level 3 NCCP (Theory/Technical) certified coach. He began his coaching career in Southern California following graduation (USC/1985) and seven years of sales and marketing success in entrepreneurial business ventures.

Personal Swim History
Ken competed as Captain of the 1984 Canadian Olympic Team in his home pool on the campus of USC (Los Angeles), finishing 5th in the 200m breaststroke behind teammate and gold medalist Victor Davis. He was also a two-time captain at USC while earning All-American and Scholar Athlete honours competing at NCAA’s in breaststroke (5th) and individual medley. Ken has fond memories of his age group career, growing up in the grass roots of Ontario Swimming, competing for LYAC (now LAC) and TOMAC (now MSSC).

Coaching History
In his twenty-plus years of coaching and mentoring young athletes, Ken has seen three of his athletes move on to Sr. National Team Selections, coached a World Cup medalist, multiple CIS and Canada Games medalists, while compiling Youth and Junior accolades (2002 Speedo Domestic Excellence Award, Australian Youth Olympic Festival Qualifier) along the way. Across his history of Age Group, Varsity and Masters coaching, his swimmers have broken provincial, national and world records. He has been both a Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach during his four prior club coaching posts.

About Ken
Ken is excited to join the Warrior family and is looking forward to aligning his coaching philosophy of developing "Scholar-Citizen-Athletes" with the Warrior Swimming dedication of "developing Swimming Excellence while maintaining focus on Character and Community".

Allison has been part of the competitive swimming world for more than 30 years, starting as a swimmer and then a coach. Currently, Allison works with and motivates children daily as a teacher and as a coach at her second home, the pool!

Coaching History
Allison's career began in Waterloo as both a club and university swimmer and coach. She followed swimming to work at the Swim Ontario office and began coaching Regional and Provincial age group swimmers in Etobicoke. She also helped develop swimmers and coaches in Oakville heading up their Novice programs. She has been chosen to coach on Provincial Tour teams and speak to young coaches to share her knowledge.

About Allison
Allison splits her time between teaching, coaching and being a swim mom to her own daughters.

Hayley joined Club Warriors during its very first year in 2008. She swam for CW at regional, provincial, and national meets including the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Trials. She then went on to swim for 5 years at Western University, where she was a member and co-captain of the varsity team. Hayley recently graduated from Western with a degree in Management and Organizational Studies, and is excited to be back in Waterloo at her home pool. Hayley has over 6 years of coaching and instructing experience, and is looking forward to sharing her passion for the sport.

Alana has been a part of competitive swimming in the Waterloo area for 20 years. She trained locally growing up, and competed at provincial and national levels. She continued to compete throughout her post-secondary education at both Brock University and Wilfrid Laurier University. She recently graduated with her Bachelor of Education degree from WLU, and is now a local teacher. The 2018-2019 season will mark her 12th year of coaching competitive swimming. Through coaching she finds that her passion for teaching and swimming come together in one. She is thrilled to continue her work as a CW coach with the Age Group 1 swimmers.

Caity has spent her whole life around pools, competing with various clubs in Ontario before transitioning to Triathlons and marathons in university! She was a Masters Swim and Triathlon Coach at the YMCA for five years before joining the Club Warriors coaching staff. She is excited to be back on the deck with kids again!

Hannah has been a part of the Club Warriors community for 10 years. She began as a competitive swimmer with the club and over time began to volunteer with some of the groups. From that she realized that she had a passion for teaching young children the sport that she knew so well. This swim season will be Hannah’s third year coaching with Club Warriors. Hannah is very much looking forward to watching the athletes grow and have fun this swim season.